Food Issues

[rmart678]

My 5 month old Golden Retriever has been struggling with digestive issues for about 2.5 months now.  He was initially eating Eukanuba Large Breed Puppy but experienced consistent diarrhea.  He has been had several stool samples analyzed and has tested positive for Giardia and Coccidia, was treated, and tested negative 2 times since.  We switched him to a chicken and rice diet to settle his stomach and the stool went completely normal.  We then slowly started to introduce a new food, Nature's Variety Instinct Chicken (our other dog does great on this) and the diarrhea returned.  Back to chicken and rice and he was normal.  We then tried California Natural with no success, back to chicken and rice, and are now trying Pro Plan Puppy.  He was doing great on this initially.  We started with 1/8 of a cup per meal mixed with a 1/2 cup rice and 1/2 chicken.  After 3 days we increased to 1/4 kibble, did that for 2 days, and increased to 3/8.  Almost immediately at the 3/8 level the diarrhea was back.  We cut back down to 1/4 but it wouldn't go away, so he's currently back on just chicken and rice.  He has also been consistently taking probiotics and getting about a teaspoon of pumpkin with each meal.  I just don't know if I should try again with the Pro Plan because initially it seemed to be working, maybe just a more gradual introduction to the food, try another new food, or something else.  It really doesn't seem like there is a larger underlying issue because when he eats just chicken and rice he does completely fine, stools are as normal as can be.  I was also thinking about giving him a calorie supplement because I know the chicken and rice isn't giving him everything he needs to grow properly and he's quite thin...around 27lbs, which is definitely below the norm for a pup his age.  Any thought or advice would be greatly appreciated.  

[Jaybay]

Ugh!  Karla, where did you find that little nugget?!  I'm not at all surprised to hear it since so many commercial pet foods use animal parts not fit for human consumption, but... GAG!  :-)

Fats can cause pancreatitis in dogs (I lost my first dog to pancreatitis) but it's usually from a massive intake of fat that the dog isn't used to.  My vet told me he can count on a busy week after any summer holiday that usually features BBQ.  People give their dogs the leftovers like bones with lots of fat on them and a day or two later the dog is puking his guts up with acute pancreatitis - which oftentimes is fatal.

[Misfits4Me]

I have an off-the-wall thought, too. This crossed my mind late last night. Have you ever tried just canned food? Could it possibly be the Animal Fats on dry kibble? Here's what I found: ANIMAL FAT is used grease from Human restaurants. (Not fit for human consumption). It is sprayed on dry kibble to encourage a pet to eat. Ingestion can cause Gastrointestinal Upset & Pancreatitis! This made sense to me....Maybe try some canned food for awhile and see......Karla

[Jaybay]

This may sound off the wall, but I'm wondering if you should look into something like inflammatory bowel disease?  You might consider asking for a specialist consultation and additional testing to evaluate the GI system.  The food issues could very well be secondary to a totally different condition.  Just a thought.  :-)

[rmart678]

I've done label comparisons with my older dog, and in the end it turned out to be the grains that were getting to her.  So naturally I tried the same grain free food with Aston, but didn't have success.  We did, however, try the grain free food almost immediately after trying California Natural without success.  I'm thinking that maybe his stomach just didn't have enough time to calm down before I switched, so maybe it wasn't a new negative reaction, but just an intensified one from the frequent changes.  So, right now he's back on chicken and rice, frequency of poops, has significantly dropped, and we're getting ready to take another stab at it.  Not sure if I should try the Pro Plan again, just much slower since it appeared not to be bugging him for the first week, or try the grain free on the assumption that last time was sort of a fluke that he didn't do well on it because of how he was switched to it.  Ideally I would put him on the grain free so they both ate the same food, but I know that doesn't always work out.

[Jaybay]

I'm thinking the same thing as Karla.  There is some common ingredient in the commercial foods that is aggravating the problem.  Usually corn is a big first suspect with digestive issues, so keep an eye out for that.  Also, every one of my 4 dogs had digestive problems with puppy foods.  Once they got on the adult preparations, they were fine.  One of them utterly refused to eat any kind of puppy food at all.  I don't know what they put in it, but she hated it!

I think I'd lay off the pumpkin as well, as that is usually used to add fiber for dogs who are constipated.

You have a good idea with adding a nutritional supplement.  There are all kinds of great dog vitamins at any pet store, so be prepared to do some more label and price reading.  Missing Link is a really good one, but it's also pretty expensive.  

[Misfits4Me]

Here's where I'd start......You have listed 4 foods. If you have the bags (I assume these were all dry foods), write the ingredients down off of each bag. Then compare each food and write down the ingredients that are the SAME in each. What your trying to do is narrow down, what is in each of these foods that is the same. You then can come up with an idea of what is causing this. If you don't have the bags, you can look the food up online and find the ingredients lists. Let me know what you find....We'll go from there. Karla      

[scaredjo]

hi my weimeraner had terrible digestion problems its taken me 2 yrs to find a food that stopped her diahorrea, i tried everything from natural tins, sensative stomach food etc etc i now feed her on 100% natural frozen dog meat which i mix with a handful of vitalin, she has never been better her tummy is settled and she had lovely formed poops haha